Creating the graph below reinforced to me how significantly consumer attention has shifted from print to the Internet. Once the center of the motocross media world, the dominant brands of yesterday are now challenged by circulation that ranges from stagnant to falling. While this has been happening for years and isn’t a news flash to anyone who’s been paying attention, the trend is accelerating. The magazines themselves have websites with audiences that dwarf their print counterparts.

For consumers, this new era is great. A smart phone in everyone’s pocket and hours at a desktop computer assures that waiting for news and race results are a thing of the past. You can search any product, rider or company and find detailed answers within seconds. And for the super-fans who want to go deeper, being part of and shaping the conversation has never been easier.

Vital’s holiday tradition continues with a donation of 10 new bikes to underprivileged kids this holiday season. Since our most cherished Christmas memories involve a new bike under the tree, we love doing our part to help others get rolling on two wheels. Check out the video above for a time-lapse of our crew having a blast building the bikes.

Over the past year, Vital mobile traffic has jumped up considerably in all of our markets. With all sections of our sites now optimized for mobile, users are responding.

To help you more effectively get your message across, we’re introducing a second, bigger mobile ad size: 300×250. This new size will serve within the content and at the bottom of many pages. We’ll continue to display the 320×50 size at the top of all mobile pages.

You’re welcome to send a 300×250 any time to start taking advantage of this bigger size.

While residing in Whistler before Crankworx, Vital editor Brandon Turman caught wind of Finn Iles. Finn is a 14-year old BC local who grew up riding Whistler and the surrounding areas. What makes Finn unique is he absolutely rips on a bike. Specifically, he loves to hit the man-sized Crabapple hits that the Whip Off World’s are hosted on. After finding out Finn was barred from Whip Off World’s because he’s ‘too young,’ Brandon got to work. Vital filmed the video below, launched it on the site and promoted it on social media with the hashtag #letfinnin. The video quickly went viral with over 4,700 Facebook shares, hundreds of tweets, and thousands of instagram comments.

The result? They let Finn in! We were stoked at this point, but it got better when Finn won the contest! It was an unbelievable start to what looks it could be a great career.

Following Whip Off World’s we received this awesome note from Finn’s Mom:

I really need to write to everyone at Vital and pass on a HUGE thanks for the #letfinnin rally video. It could not have played out any better and I’m not sure anyone could have predicted how all of this went. Thank you for getting behind him, believing in him, shooting the video, and rallying your readers. YOU made the difference (as well as Whistler locals Adam and Katrina). It is an awesome story and I want you all to know how much we appreciated the effort you made to #letfinnin. We will never forget your support.

For those of us in SoCal, the reopening of the Snow Summit bike park in Big Bear a year ago was a big deal. Most Mondays in the Vital office last summer consisted of all kinds of chatter about it: how fun it was, how conditions were, how much our hands hurt, “You only did how many runs?,” how fast so-and-so was going, etc. You get the idea.

To kick off this season, we created the first-annual Vital MTB Ditch Day. The goal was to get some friends together and create a fun industry event. We like riding, you like riding, everyone likes riding. Good idea, right? It was, actually–people were stoked. We had over 110 VIPs attend: numerous industry people, top riders, retailers, and more. We even had some of our throttle-twisting motocross friends attend, including the Vital MX staff. We scored with a mid-day rain that rewarded those who waited it out with epic conditions.

All in all, it was a great event, a great kick off to the 2014 season, and a great idea that we can’t wait to do again.

Below are select photos. Check out full coverage here, including more photos, video, and an Instagram feed.

Vital Media Network is looking for a sales representative to join our growing team. You will be responsible for bringing new advertisers and sponsors to Vital MX. You will be a key part of a small sales team that is responsible for all sales development and account management functions.

Requirements:
• Prior sales experience with proven success prospecting and closing new business
• Passion for motocross
• Enthusiasm for the web and digital media
• Strong written and verbal skills
• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience
• Comfortable working in a small-business environment
• Interest in BMX and/or mountain biking is a plus

The job is full-time and based in Irvine, California, near John Wayne airport. Some travel is required. We offer competitive compensation (salary and commission) and benefits.

Vital BMX has always had a solid following in the UK, but a combination of factors has seen it grow considerably over the last year. First, we launched a UK edition of Vital BMX this past summer. Not surprisingly, more UK-specific content has helped grow our audience in the UK. At the same time, the BMX slowdown seems to have hit the US much worse than the UK.

The graphs above show unique visitors in November 2013 compared to November 2012. Total unique visitors from the UK grew from 48k to 71k (+46%). Unique visitors from the US fell 8%, from 135k to 124k. Worldwide unique visitors were up 9% to 389k.

The numbers are more interesting if you consider the population difference between the US and the UK. Even with five-times the population (313m vs. 63m), traffic from the US is less than double the traffic from the UK traffic (124k vs. 71k unique visitors). This per-capita difference suggests that the BMX scene in the UK is much stronger than in the US.

If you are interested in marketing your brand in the UK via geo-targeted ads or content, give us a shout.

Once again, the elves here at Vital decided to offer Santa a helping hand. Much like in years past, the Vital crew took some time to buy and assemble a handful of bikes with the hopes of spreading two-wheeled joy to those in need. Working in conjunction with Toys for Tots, the Vital elves look to provide 10 lucky children with an awesome Christmas. Let’s hope they find as much enjoyment on two wheels as the entire Vital crew.

Now get out there and enjoy the holidays. On behalf of everyone here at Vital Media Network, we hope you have an awesome Christmas and safe and prosperous New Year.

Vital recently launched an e-newsletter: The Spotlight. Emailed biweekly to registered Vital users, The Spotlight helps our fans stay up to date with our top content. Considering the high volume of quality content constantly flowing through Vital’s sites, The Spotlight provides a useful tool to help our audience catch up on what they might have missed.

Carefully designed to look great on both desktop and mobile, The Spotlight delivers popular content to our audience even when they’re on the go. Our focus on mobile design is paying off, with more than 50% of clicks on The Spotlight coming from mobile devices.

Looking to connect directly with registered Vital users? Talk to us about ad opportunities within The Spotlight.

Woodward West was the scene for the 3rd annual Vital BMX Game of BIKE. We took a hiatus last year, but with other events scaling back, and with BMX sales generally sluggish, we felt it was more important than ever to hold the event. Events like ours create excitement and help energize the scene. This was proven all week through video views, comments, Facebook likes, and social media chatter.

32 amazing riders went head-to-head for $6,300 in prize money. With no live webcast or outside spectactors, the event was made for video. This let us maintain a loose structure, which riders appreciated. Even with money and bragging rights on the line, riders kept it fun and generally didn’t play cut-throat (although some of the best moments were seeing riders pull tricks in that they had never even tried before).

Big thanks to our sponsors: Dan’s Comp, Pro-Tec, and MovieTickets.com. We could not have done this without them!

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